Unfortunately this happened to friends of mine back in the day. Same circumstances. There are evil dudes in the world watching for naive young women who haven't learned their limits with alcohol or are way too trusting. It is wayyyy too common.

Young women need to watch out for their friends. Don't leave them behind! Carry them home if you have too! And decent men need to step up and say, this doesn't happen to my friends and do their part to keep them safe too.

I agree with another poster that East Lawrence is friendly and we know our neighbors. I have totally awesome neighbors who help each other out. But it is partly the way all of the houses have porches and sidewalks and people actually walk a lot.

You get to know folks when you see them all the time. The neighborhoods where the main part of the house you see are the garage are going to have a harder time.

Fast food is NOT cheap, skip that and you have more options at the grocery store. I have seen people's carts at the grocery store full of "food" but no nutritional value. Cheap soda, white bread, ramen noodles. Kids grow up eating that way, and find it hard to make wiser choices.

You can buy a weight watchers cookbook at Salvation Army. Canned vegetables can be purchased pretty cheaply and still have nutritional value, whole wheat is not more expensive than white, you can cook most things without frying them, and water is the cheapest drink there is. But someone has to break the cycle and learn a different way to eat.

I certainly see a lot more kids from where I grew up in the western part of the state coming to KU than I did 20 years ago. And the non-farming population has dropped at the same time, so I think KU has made real progress.

thuja, The addition referred to in the article looks great and has been complete for awhile. I am not sure what house you are talking about?For those of us who have seen it in progress, it has been inspirational.

She said that she is telling people because she wants kids growing up to know that it is ok to be gay. That even country singers can be gay. That you shouldn't have to hide who you are. It is more than what you do in your bedroom. It is who you love, who you want to spend your life with. Is your relationsip with your significant other only about what you do in the bedroom?